


Love and Loss

by Comicsohwhyohwhy



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Comicsohwhyohwhy/pseuds/Comicsohwhyohwhy
Summary: “But Adam is already gone.” There are tears on Opal's cheeks again, and Ronan feels a surge of despair. He doesn’t know how to comfort her. He just doesn’t.Ronan and Opal are coping with Adam leaving for college. Some days are better than others.





	Love and Loss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laireshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/gifts).



> This takes place after the Opal short-story, but you don't need to have read it in order to read this. There's only 2 elements of the short story you should be aware of, but both are already there in "The Raven King":  
> 1) Opal loves Adam a lot  
> 2) Opal is a very strange creature
> 
> This is a gift for the lovely laireshi, who wanted Ronan being a cute dad. So I wrote fluffy kidfic. I don't even know what's happening. (Laireshi also betaed this, thank you!)

Opal is sad.

Ronan can tell because there’s half-eaten pieces of branches all over the house, trails of leaves going up the stairs and into the upper bedrooms and grass and dust all over the living room. He sighs as he slowly cleans up after her.

Ronan doesn’t quite know what to do about it, because he is sad himself, and because he’s never been good at giving comfort, no matter how hard he tries.

Once upon a time, Ronan would have filled that emptiness within him with burning liquor. Then he would have gotten into a fast car, opened the windows and let the wind of the ride do the rest, blow everything out of his mind and heart until only the soaring of the night remained. But he doesn’t do that anymore, because it is reckless and self-destructive and Opal needs him to be someone else, another, better Ronan. Opal needs him, period.

Adam needs him too, maybe. But maybe that is just an illusion Ronan allows himself. Why would Adam need him, after all? Adam left for college, finally taking the first steps into his undoubtedly bright future, far away from the bruised Henrietta-past that he hates so much. And all that is left for Ronan is the obligation to dream, closed off from the world and surrounded by his father’s creatures.

Ronan hears his phone beep. Years of practiced annoyance tell him to just ignore it. But things are different now – with Adam far away, the phone is their only line of communication, and as much as Ronan hates it, that has to be worth something.

_Hey, how are you doing? How’s Opal?_

Adam’s message is short, but Ronan can’t help but smile at it, imagining the slightly worried, affectionate tone of voice Adam would have if he said the words out loud. He must be in class – after all, it’s only his first week, and a Wednesday morning.

He’s being an idiot. Adam loves him, and he loves Opal too. Ronan doesn’t know what he has done to deserve it, but there it is. He had better remember it before throwing another pity party. Ronan types.

_Already missing us, Parrish? Wow, you’re soft._

He sees Adam type a reply immediately – he must hide his phone in class to do this, probably typing stealthily under the table, and the thought makes Ronan smile. What a dork.

_Who said I’m missing you? Maybe I just want to make sure you haven’t set the house on fire. Or let Opal eat all the furniture, or something. You know I’m counting on free holidays there, can’t afford to go anyplace else_

Ronan’s smile has widened to a grin now. He could have such conversations all day.

_I love it when you sweet talk me_

Adam sends back a smiley that expressively rolls its eyes. But then, another message arrives:

_Seriously, take care of yourself. And of her. I miss you guys_

Something constricts in Ronan’s chest, too tight for him to breathe. He quickly rubs his eyes, then types:

_Sure. Miss you too_

Then he puts the phone away.

He should find Opal.

*******

When he does find her, she’s by the upper barns. She sees him approach and immediately turns to run. Ronan scowls.

“Opal, come here!”

He sees the bright red of her coat, the new one Ronan had sewed for her before the temperatures became autumnal, disappear between the trees. His scowl deepens.

“Opal, I’m serious, come here.”

There’s no reaction, and when Ronan enters the woods at the border of Singer’s Falls, he sees Opal crouch by a big old oak tree. He can’t quite make out what she’s doing, but she doesn’t flee when he approaches.

When he gets close, he sees that she’s burying something, putting stuff into a hole that is already brimming with colourful items. He takes a closer look and recognizes food, heaps of it. It’s the meat loaf he had made for them yesterday evening, and next to it, a piece of the quiche he had prepared for lunch before. Opal is just carefully lowering in the fresh bread he had baked for her, this morning, for a healthy breakfast. Instead of eating with him, she had grabbed the food and run.

Ronan had been kind of pissed off, but at the same time relieved that she seemed willing to eat actual food instead of just branches. So what if she wanted to eat alone – at least she _was_ eating, and he was taking care of her as he should.

Clearly, she wasn’t, and clearly, he wasn’t either. There’s every meal he has cooked for them since Adam left, just hidden away in the dirt. Ronan clenches his fists, half in anger, half in helplessness.

“What is this, Opal?”

She doesn’t quite look him in the eyes as she replies. “It’s for Adam. For when he comes back.”

Ronan is somewhat mystified. “Why would he need food buried in a hole in the ground?”

Opal’s little face scrunches up. She intently studies her hooves. “I want him to have lots of nice food. He’s always hungry.”

Ronan lets out a slow breath. Of course. Adam _was_ always hungry, a remnant from a past in which he had too often not been able to afford enough food to actually feel full – maybe paired with the fear of a future in which food would again be a luxury, living off a not-too-generous scholarship, not yet knowing if he’d find side-jobs at college. Ronan kept on telling him not to be dumb and just take some of his money, but Adam adamantly refused, of course. As much as he’s progressed and become a lot more relaxed about accepting things from Ronan, he would probably always stay infuriating that way.

_Opal is just trying to make sure Adam will be taken good care of when he’s back._

“Opal, Adam will have enough food when he’s back, don’t worry about it.”

Her big eyes slowly swivel to his, finally. “But I want him to have a reason to come back. More food than he’s ever had.”

Ronan lowers himself to his knees. He tries to take Opal’s hand, but she quickly snatches it away and continues carefully covering the food with earth, hiding it from the animals roaming the woods.

“I made this food for you though. You should eat, so that you stay healthy and strong and can play with him when he’s back.”

She scrunches up her nose. “I don’t like your food.”

Ronan can feel himself grow irritated with the whole situation. After all, he has spent hours and hours cooking all of those things, learning how to properly bake bread and the like, and it was _good_ food. He’d thought he could give Opal as much, at least. “You know, some dirty, rotten food isn’t going to make him come back!”

He only realizes that he made a mistake when he sees Opal’s lips tremble. Her enormous eyes fill with tears.

If only he were better with his words.

“That’s not how I meant it, okay? He will be back, but he would want you to eat in the meantime, okay? And I’m going to make lots of nice, new food for him when he comes.”

Opal is crying now, little sobs wrecking her slight chest. She looks absolutely hopeless, and at the sight, Ronan feels the old fear in his own chest – _what if Opal is right, what if Adam won’t come back_.

But he can’t give in to that fear now. He has a strange, hooved girl to comfort, and _he_ has to be the strong one.

Very carefully, he wraps her in his arms, pressing her head to his own chest, soothingly running his hand up and down her back. It almost kills him, to feel how frail she is, how unhappy, this delicate creature of his own making.

Under his breath, he murmurs “it’ll be alright”, and it might be as much to calm himself down as her. Ronan can feel wetness on his own cheeks. After a long while of them entangled like that, the soft light of the morning rendering their surroundings blurred and lovely as the wind whispers in the trees, Opal finally seems to calm down a little.

He presses a soft kiss into her hair and smiles at her. He can feel how unsteady his own smile is, and the one he gets in return is watery, but it is there.

Slowly, he gets up, never letting go of Opal’s hand.

“Let’s get you some food, okay? And then let’s call Adam.”

******

Ronan makes pancakes and tops them off generously with maple syrup. He is not sure if Opal actually likes pancakes. At times he wonders what he knows about this dream creature and concedes that even though she is, strictly speaking, a part of him, clearly not enough. But he does remember his mother making pancakes for him when he was little and felt bad about something, for example when he’d had a terrible nightmare, and the hot stickiness on his tongue had been enormously comforting for him. He hopes Opal is like him, in that way.

Opal sits at the table, looking all tame and well-behaved. Ronan remembers Adam’s words, _she was never tame, just afraid_. Adam had clearly been talking about both himself and Opal, and Ronan’s heart had broken a little at that. But seeing her now, quiet and contained like that, he wonders how afraid she still is.

_She probably still thinks Adam won’t come back._

Ronan swallows, then he puts one plate in front of her and settles into his chair with another. Opal looks at the food suspiciously, and the pure skepticism on her little face makes Ronan smile. “Come on, try it.”

She carefully takes a forkful of the pancakes and her face lightens up. Ronan exhales in relief. Opal clearly likes the food he has made, and he relaxes a fraction and digs into his own heap of pancakes. They are sticky and sweet and give him a little comfort.

He’d texted Adam before, asking if he had time for a phone call, but Adam apologized profusely because he had classes until late and then an interview for a side-job (as a bartender, no less – Ronan wonders how Adam ‘I don’t drink’-Parrish would cope with that). He seemed truly wretched at not being able to make it, and even though Ronan could admit to himself that it already hurt that they weren’t able to at least _talk_ freely while Adam was far away, he had immediately tried to calm Adam down.

Adam hadn’t seemed convinced, and the last message Ronan had gotten was still a very upset-sounding _I’m really sorry_.

Now Ronan’s phone rings, though, and Opal immediately looks hopeful. Ronan grabs his phone with a frown.

It is Adam. Ronan’s heart does a funny little jump in his chest.

He switches on loudspeakers and picks up. “Adam?”

Adam has video transmission on. He’s walking quickly somewhere with one headphone in his good ear. His smile at hearing Ronan’s voice is so bright Ronan almost feels he has to look away. He sounds a little breathless when he speaks.

“Hey… I’m just on my way to the next class and wanted to say hi. Can you put video on?”

Opal has already run to stand beside him, and now she is wiggling onto his lap, making excited little huffing noises. Ronan absent-mindedly strokes her hair and switches on video. When Adam sees the two of them, his smile brightens even more.

“Hi, Opal! How are you?”

Opal is excitedly bobbing up and down on Ronan’s lap. Her eyes are alight with barely suppressed emotion.

“I made a hole in the ground!”

Adam laughs at that, then he apparently nearly collides with someone on campus, looks away from the screen, smiles sheepishly and mutters an apology.

God, how Ronan loves his ever-present politeness.

Adam looks back at them. “Is it a big hole?”

Opal nods enthusiastically. “Really big.”

“Will you show me when I come back?”

At that, Opal’s face falls a little, and Ronan squeezes her hand reassuringly. “Will you come back?”

There’s a complicated series of emotions flickering across Adam’s face, and when he speaks, his voice has lost some of its exuberance. Ronan hasn’t told him how Opal is acting out since he left, not wanting to spoil Adam’s first week at college and make him sad, but he can tell that Adam gets an inkling of it anyways. After all, he’s always been a perceptive bastard. “Of course I will, I told you. I’ll be back in a month for the holidays.”

Opal presses her lips together, and she looks unhappy again. But then she nods.

“Okay.” How brave she is, trying not to show Adam her fears.

“Don’t give Ronan too much trouble until then,” Adam says, clearly trying to sound light again. Ronan scoffs.

“Nothing I can’t handle, Parrish.”

Adam just rolls his eyes, but he looks so fond that Ronan’s heart stutters a bit in his chest. “’Course.”

Ronan clears his throat. “So how are things for you? You really wanna go sell alcohol to strangers? They might make unwanted advances, you know.”

Adam raises an eyebrow, clearly amused. “I can deal with _you_ drunk, I think I’m pretty well able to handle it, all things considered. Or wait, are you _jealous_?”

Ronan scoffs some more. “What if I am?”

Adam laughs good-naturedly. “Getting soft, Lynch?” Before Ronan can think up an appropriately wry response, though, Adam _yet again_ almost walks into someone. He looks embarrassed, then the light around him changes as he’s about to enter a building. His voice is more hushed now.

“Sorry, I have to go now, class starts in about two minutes and I still have no idea where the room is.”

It’s Ronan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Why don’t you just use magic to locate it?”

Adam looks supremely unimpressed. “That is not even remotely how magic works. Besides, the ley line is shit here, I’m gonna have to do some repairs before I can really tap into it.”

“So you can become campus witch after? Tell people their fortunes for money instead of making drinks for handsome strangers?”

Adam shakes his head a little, but he’s laughing. “Oh my god, Ronan, stop it already. Okay, I really have to go now.”

“Okay. Enjoy your dork-stuff.” Ronan knows his smile is soft and a little sad, and Opal, who had been looking at Adam intently all during the call, tightens her grip on his hand. But she doesn’t protest. Instead, she paints a big smile on her own face, then waves at Adam enthusiastically. Adam sends a kiss back, tells them to take care, then the screen goes black.

Opal leans into him with a little sigh, and Ronan just holds her like that, on his lap, for a long while.

*********

It is late, and Opal should really go to bed, but she seems upset, roaming the house. Ronan is telling himself very hard that he is fine, not upset in the slightest, while he’s cleaning up the kitchen from the nice dinner he’s prepared for the two of them.

This time, Opal has eaten with him, and it was nice – she told him about her adventures out in the forest, and Ronan listened and appreciated everything she had done and experienced. He knew that it was hard for her, only really having him to talk to, lacking all other human contact, because she had to remain a secret.

A secret, hidden away from the world, just like him.

In truth though, Ronan feels the leaden weight of loneliness settle into his chest as he slowly washes up dishes and pans. He shouldn’t feel that way – Adam will be back, and Gansey and Blue will be back ( _but will they?_ ), and in the meantime, he has Opal. It should be enough.

Opal can probably feel his anxiety bubble through the house, and he feels bad for not making this easier on her. Ronan can hear her hooves in one of the upstairs rooms, and he isn’t sure he wants to know what she’s doing. Maybe she’s eating some more furniture, despite the dinner he made.

When he is done, he goes up and finds Opal in his parents’ old room. For a moment, he feels white-hot anger rise in him. He’s _told_ her she isn’t allowed in here, for fear of her destroying the only things he has left from his mother and father, a thought he cannot bear. But then he sees that Opal is all quiet, sitting on the bed, a picture in hand. It’s a framed photo of his beaming parents and their three sons, all of them small and happy and well-cared for.

Ronan quietly knocks on the open door to make his presence known. Opal looks up, then immediately back to the photo. When she doesn’t acknowledge him further, Ronan ventures into the room and carefully settles himself on the bed beside her.

“What are you looking at?”

Opal turns her enormous eyes on him. She doesn’t say anything, but there’s confusion written all over her face.

Ronan carefully takes the photo from her. “Those are my parents, you know.”

Opal nods. Then she seems about to say something, but doesn’t. Ronan gives her room, but after a while, Opal still seems somewhat distraught. He softly asks, “what is it?”

Her voice is quiet. “Are parents something like you and Adam?”

Ronan’s heart stutters in his chest. He momentarily doesn’t know what to say, and there’s fear constricting his chest. _Parents. Taking responsibility for Opal like a child_. He doesn’t know if he can do it, with how damaged he is.

But he knows he cannot tell her that, and he knows it isn’t what he feels, either. And rationally, he knows that this is just what he’s been doing, and what Adam, miraculously and without obligation, has been doing as well – taking care of Opal like a child, protecting her, making sure she feels safe and loved. “Yes, I suppose so.”

Opal’s lip quivers. “So are you and Adam going to die too?”

Ronan closes his eyes. He is suddenly very tired, but he knows he can’t let Opal see that.

Carefully, he takes her hand, then leans into her a little. “Adam and I aren’t going to die, Opal. We’re young and healthy and here for you as long as you want us.”

“But Adam is already gone.” There are tears on her cheeks again, and Ronan feels a surge of despair. He doesn’t know how to comfort her. He just doesn’t.

“Adam is coming back very soon, Opal. He loves you.”

At that, Opal looks up at him with big eyes again. “Does he love you?”

Ronan gives her a smile, and he knows it must be a brittle thing. “Yes, I suppose he does. I don’t know why he would, but he really does.”

At that, Opal sighs and grips his hand a little tighter.

They sit like that, in silence, for a good while longer. Then Ronan picks her up, holding her close, and carefully caries her into her own room. And when he sees her big eyes in the dark, still somewhat distraught, he knows what he has to do. Instead of leaving, he lies down next to her and lets Opal curl into him.

After a long while, he hears her breathing even out. And even later, he feels himself taken into the land of dreams, and miraculously, with Opal’s small body pressing into his side, he is not afraid of nightmares.

*****

It’s the next morning, and Ronan and Opal are out in the fields looking for elderberries. Ronan wants to make syrup and Opal jumps excitedly around him, all happy to be helping him. It’s a much better day – apparently Ronan staying in Opal’s room the night before helped her, and she seems lighter than she has during the last few days.

In the morning, Ronan has also found a pic that Adam had taken of himself on his phone, hair mussed and lovely with sleep, a dark coffee in hand and soft smile on his face, holding up a piece of paper with a heart on it. Ronan wanted to feel embarrassed for him, he really did, the sob. But he couldn’t muster any feeling but absolute joy that felt as if it would set fire to his chest. Opal seemed just as overjoyed as him at the photo, and since then, they are both smiling.

They go through the upper woods, close to the street, and Opal comes up to him with handfuls of berries, happily depositing them in his basket before running off again. Ronan lets his hands roam through underbrush, and the harvest is just great. If they continue like that, they’ll have enough berries to make syrup very soon.

Ronan hears Opal’s hooves clack on pavement, quite far away, and he looks up sharply. He’s told Opal not to get too close to the street, for fear of someone seeing her. Ronan sighs, leaves the basket behind and hurries towards the road cleaving the woods in two.

He has only just come out of the trees to see Opal in the middle of the street, apparently playing with some sort of bug, when he freezes. He hears a roaring sound, and he knows, he just _knows_ that there’s a truck coming round the bend where Opal is playing. Not seeing her until it’s too late, because she is tiny and frail and self-absorbed in her game and −

_What if the truck hits her what if –_

For a split second, he feels a burning wish to be like Adam, to have beautiful magic, be able to shelter and save people just with the power of his mind. But he isn’t like Adam and never will be – all he can pull from his mind is the horror of nightmares. That, and Opal, the one truly excellent thing he has managed to dream in a long, long time.

He cannot lose her.

When he flings himself into the middle of the road, all he thinks of is her little form crouched there, still oblivious to the danger she’s in. He pushes, hard. Then he thinks nothing at all.

********

There’s a low voice, and dim lights around him, and Ronan’s head feels as if it were about to burst. There’s something warm curled against him, something alive. He can’t seem to open his eyes or focus on what is being said.

Ronan takes a few deep, slow breaths, then he tries again. Very slowly, the indistinct murmur dissolves into words.

_….have the body of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man. They were considered to be the children of Ixion, king of the Lapiths, and Nephele, a cloud made in the image of…_

He knows that voice, and it floods him with warmth.

Adam.

He tries to open his eyes again, but he fails again, and before he can think further about what is going on, he slips into blackness again.

*********

When he next wakes up, the scene hasn’t changed. There’s still Adam’s voice reading to him, still someone curled next to him, and now he knows who it is.

Opal. Relief floods him and momentarily blocks out the pain he feels all over his body.

He dimly remembers, now. The road, the truck. Him jumping for Opal, to save her.

Very slowly, he tries to open his eyes, and this time, he actually succeeds. His vision is somewhat blurred, but he can see Adam, sitting in a chair next to his bed at the Barns, still reading in his low, lovely voice.

“…sources say that the phoenix simply died and decomposed before being reborn, but others claim that it would combust and die wrapped in flames…”

Ronan can’t keep the little snort from escaping him. It drives a spike of pain into his skull, but whatever. “Parrish, are you really reading to me from the most boring textbook you could find?”

Adam literally jumps. “Oh my god, you’re awake!”

Before Ronan has time to really process things, Adam kneels next to his bed, carefully cupping Ronan’s cheek. He looks tired and upset and Ronan can tell it’s all he can do not to cry. Ronan swallows. He really, _really_ doesn’t want Adam to cry.

“Nice of you to visit the sick.”

Adam lets out a sound that’s halfway between a laugh and a sob. “Ronan, I…”

Before he can say more, Opal stirs next to Ronan, and she looks up at both of them with sleepy eyes. She extends one of her little arms and tugs at Adam, and the way Adam smiles at her, all soft and fond and so incredibly _relieved_ , makes Ronan’s chest want to burst with feeling. Without hesitation, Adam lets himself be tugged into bed, on Ronan’s other side.

He is incredibly careful not to jostle Ronan, and only snuggles up to his shoulder when Ronan sighs and unmistakably gestures for him to do so. For a moment, the three of them are silent, and Ronan can tell that Opal is already quietly slipping back into sleep.

Ronan whispers when he speaks next. “Why am I at the Barns? I’d have expected a hospital or something.”

Adam entangles his fingers with Ronan’s, and it sends little bursts of warmth all the way to his toes. “You should be in one, yes, what with a slight concussion and a broken arm. But we arranged for home care.”

Ronan really wants to know who ‘we’ is, but also, he feels that he is still tired and will probably fall asleep again soon. But Adam seems to pick up on his question without it being voiced, and he quietly adds: “Declan helped.”

Ronan considers this. Declan and him have gotten along a lot better of late, and his brother was surprisingly supportive of Ronan’s relationship with Adam. Ronan is almost surprised he doesn’t see Declan’s involvement in this situation as him meddling with Ronan’s life, but apparently, things have changed between them. So he only replies with a murmured “thank you”, and he can feel Adam’s body relax a little more against him.

Opal stirs next to them, and she seems to be fast asleep again. Ronan turns his head to look at her peaceful face, not a visible scratch on her. If he were at the hospital, she couldn’t be with him now. He knows he can’t quite put the overwhelming sense of gratitude he feels into words, but he tries nonetheless. “I’m glad she’s with me, you know.”

Adam’s hand grips his more tightly, almost to the point of hurting, and he sounds agitated when he next speaks, but he’s still whispering, his eyes now fixed on Opal. “You know, when Declan called me and told me what had happened, I immediately booked a flight. By the time I landed, I knew you’d be okay, but I had no idea where Opal was, so I went to the Barns first.”

Ronan considers interrupting him with something like “priorities, Parrish”, hoping to make Adam smile with the sheer, ridiculous improriety of it, but Adam’s voice is raw, full of barely suppressed emotion, and he can’t bring himself to do it.

“I found her hidden in the woods, crying like crazy. I couldn’t calm her down for ages.” Adam looks haunted now, and Ronan swallows. Adam has always been almost impossibly good with Opal, but Ronan knows he is constantly afraid of failing, of not treating her the way she should be treated. Seeing her traumatised like that must have been incredibly difficult for him.

Ronan takes a deep breath. “But you did calm her down, in the end, Adam. Look at her now.”

Adam does, and slowly, the haunted look leaves his face. Ronan can feel Adam’s hand relax around his own again.

For a moment, neither of them speaks, then Adam lets out a shuddering breath, and when Ronan turns his head, he is looking up at him, all open and trusting and tired and relieved at the same time. “Ronan, when he called me and I heard what had happened…”

He doesn’t go on, and Ronan waits for a while. When nothing more is forthcoming, he just murmurs “hm?”

Adam is still looking at him, and he sounds wretched when he next talks. “I shouldn’t have left.”

Ronan pulls back and scowls at Adam. “Parrish, are you kidding me?”

Adam only holds his glare for a moment, then he casts down his eyes, long, dusty lashes settling on his cheekbones. “It’s true though.”

Ronan sighs and momentarily closes his own eyes. “Adam, what happened had nothing to do with you leaving. Yes, Opal was sad, yes, I was sad, and like, what would you _expect_ , of course we’d be sad. But when the… accident happened, we were happily collecting elderberries and not thinking about your dumb face at all.”

Ronan feels tired after that long speech, and he hears Adam chuckle a little, but it still sounds wet. “Let’s talk about it when you’re not on pain meds, ok?”

Ronan shakes his head slightly. It hurts. “No. I mean, yes, we can talk, but you’re not pulling this bullshit on me. You are going back to college and doing what you always wanted to do and showing them all that I have the smartest boyfriend. No discussion there.”

Adam props himself up on his elbow, and he is looking at Ronan’s face searchingly. What he finds there seems to satisfy him and he inclines his head slightly. “Okay.”

Then he leans in a little. His eyes are bright. With his face so close, Ronan can count the little freckles on his nose. “But next time just tell me you want to see me instead of pulling a dramatic stunt like that, alright?”

When they kiss, it is soft and sweet and Ronan feels more at home than he ever has.


End file.
